


Fire From the Hills

by LadyBrooke



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Angst, Child Death, F/M, Fire, Illusions, Plague
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:07:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27306772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyBrooke/pseuds/LadyBrooke
Summary: The children of the Haladin burn, and Caranthir and Haleth break apart after Sauron’s tricks.
Relationships: Caranthir | Morifinwë/Haleth of the Haladin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	Fire From the Hills

**Author's Note:**

> Happy (?) Halloween!

The plague comes down from the hills. Some trick of Morgoth's, some Men say. A curse of the elves is what other Men say, both those that know little and those that know too much of old history.

Sauron is not yet confined to one body. Curufin yet lives, and with him the image of Fëanor. It is little matter to appear in the hills as a stalking ghost.

It is even less matter to release a plague. Caranthir may know, may snarl at those who question him, that that thing is not his father, nor his brother. But that is little help when his children are the first in the village to burn, Caranthir cradling the older two in a cold bath as the youngest burns in her crib. It moves fast in the young, faster in infants, and fastest in the children of those cursed to have their pleas unheard.

Fëanor's image appears in the window as Caranthir finds the burnt skull of his youngest daughter. It appears behind the crowd as Haleth announces all three of her children are dead and burnt.

It follows Caranthir from the village as he leaves, his marriage broken by his children's deaths. The plague spreads too, following the spirit.

Caranthir has not told his brothers of his children, and now he does not have the strength to. He writes to them of the plague and Morgoth's latest tricks, as he wraps himself in furred robes and does not light a fire.

But in the Halls, three dead children are held close by their grandfather, who keeps them safe and rages when Námo tries to take them away. Fëanáro's spirit burns through the darkness as his grandchildren wait for their mother before they go on.

There, this fire does not burn them.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been sitting on this since last Halloween, and finally decided the short version was better than trying to expand it, so here that is.


End file.
